Two years ago today our dear Debora Miller died. There was so much to celebrate in her, and so much to grapple with in light of her loss. Both are ongoing. Thank you to everyone who has been there.

In the meantime, we have reflected on how to best remember Deb through the grant project we loosely identified right after she died. We established the Debora Miller Memorial Fund, and received many gifts to help build a resource to use in some way. We thank all who gave for entrusting us and being patient as we explored our feelings and ideas about what the right use of those gifts would be. We have decided to use that to fuel an annual gift to an arts organization or body that we feel somehow reflects Deb’s spirit, artistic engagement, and edgy smarts. And, we are now preparing to make the first gift–which we will do before June 7, which would have been her 49th birthday. We will post here to share the news when we have made the gift, and we look forward to many annual gifts to come.

If you would like to help to continue to build the fund, please let us know (via Donate).

Today, as a remembrance, we share images of life in Deb’s honor. One is of the wonderful tree created with shards of pottery and stones throughout the memorial weekend. It now has a home in the shadow of a mountain in Missoula, MT, at her brother John and Nerissa’s house. The other is of two new Okame Cherry trees recently planted in the garden of the Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, NY. We regard them and think of Deb.